Flames
by Midnight Luna and InnerFangirl
Summary: Flames. All he could see was flames. Slight AU because Kanaera is married in season 1, where this is based, with their space kids.


Flames. The heat around him scorched his skin, evaporating the sweat faster than it could cool him. There was pressure on his legs and a pool of blood under his torso. 'The fire safety feature must of been damaged in the explosion', Ezra thought, 'hence my danger'. "Where are the others" he wonder aloud, he hoped they got away, that they were safe. As the flames grew closer, and the smell of burnt hair started to grow stronger, Ezra started to craft his mental goodbye letter to the crew. He apologized to Kanan for being a terrible student, to Hera for taking up space, to Zeb for taking half of his room, to Sabine for being annoying, and to Chopper for planning to disassemble him. And finally to his parents, for strewing up. "... I'm sorry guys..." Was the last thing Ezra said before he succumbed to the smoke.

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Kanan's panic was rising, Ezra wasn't answering his com, and the ship was on fire and breaking apart. He couldn't sense his padawan, he couldn't find him. The panic continued to rise, smothering any other emotion, smothering Kanan. The smoke was making it hard it see and breathe, Kanan resorting to calling Ezra's name, Zeb and Sabine stepping over downed Stormtroopers and checking under the bodies for their youngest. The smoke was nearly impossible to breathe though, the flames growing larger than Zeb, melting the metal walls and ceilings, creating waterfalls of molten steel. It was truly a miracle that the ship was still more or less in one piece. Hope was dying quickly, it was likely at this point that Ezra had been incinerated, and so the crew, morning their youngest member turned to flee the firey furnace, when Kanan saw a flash of orange. Looking closer, he saw, under a pile of quickly heating and melting beams, was Ezra. Calling to the others, Kanan channeled the Force and lifted the beams while Zeb and Sabine grabbed the unconscious boy. Kanan couldn't tell if his padawan was even breathing, but there was no time to check. Kanan dropped the steel beams, and as they exploded in a wave of sparks, the four survivors of a mission gone wrong ran to flee the raging inferno.

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The heat of the flames kept rising, causing Hera's fear to rise with it. Where was her family?! When Sabine's bright orange helmet appear in her view, the grip on Hera's heart loosened greatly. But when she saw the limp body in Zeb's arms, it tightly seized up again. As Chopper opened up the cargo bay doors, Hera punched in the coordinates of the Phoenix fleet. She heard the crew yelling behind her and she took off, away from the fire ship, and into hyperspace.

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Zeb, Kanan, Sabine, and Chopper speed to the Med Bay, barely noticing Hera joining the frantic race to save the teen. When they got there, Zeb deposited Ezra on the bed as gently as humanly (or not quite humanly) possible, and stepped back. Now, the crew could finally get a good look at Ezra, and it was not a pretty picture. His face and hair were pretty much miraculously spared, his face was covered in soot, and his hair was simply singed. The rest of him was not quite as lucky. Ezra's legs were covered in burns of varying degrees and any skin that wasn't burned, was severely bruised. His arms were protecting his head and in doing so, took the brunt of those burns. His chest had many broken and bruised ribs and a punched lung. Ezra's abdomen had been speared through with a piece of the warped floor and the piece of metal had taken out his spleen... and was still bleeding profusely. His breathing was very shallow, and one could hardly detect the movement of the chest that reveled breathing. Hera inhaled sharply, the strong metallic smell of blood burning her nostrils. "Sabine," Hera began, pulling on a pair of rubber gloves. "You need to start on his lung, Kanan you need to help me." As Sabine started to adjust Ezra's ribs and prepared the catheter for his lung, Zeb began an IV for pain medication and anesthesia. "Kanan, I need you to hold open the wound, I think his spleen was damaged." "Shouldn't we wait for the fleet medical bay?" Asked Sabine. "No, there's no time, Chopper, did you set up the heart monitor?" The distinct warble and the beeping of the machine answered her question. As Kanan oh so delicately held the weeping wound open, Hera began to search for the traumatized organ. As she did so, Ezra began to quietly moan, causing all heads to turn to him. "Zeb..." Hera cautioned, as he upped the dose for the IV. "That 'otta do it." He proclaimed, and everyone went back to work. Hera probed gently around the boy's abdomen search for the hemorrhaging organ while Sabine softly inserted the catheter to drain the liquid from his lungs. An hour went by, as the ghost crew worked tirelessly to save their youngest member. "I think that's all we can do for him." Hera said, looking at the boy, Ezra barely looked any healthier after their care, he had a tube in his chest, covered in messy stitches, and was missing his spleen after Hera found it and realized she couldn't save it. The control panel for the ghost beeped, warning that they were coming out of Hyperspace. Hera ran to the cockpit, to give the clearance codes, while Sabine, Chopper, and Zeb went to cargo bay doors to guide the Med Bay crew to Ezra, Kanan stayed with Ezra, softly running his fingers though his hair, telling him to hold on, that he loved him, that he was so proud of him. Kanan heard running footsteps headed his way. The Phoenix medical crew came in with stretcher and effectively lifted Ezra into it. The entire Ghost crew followed the stretcher out, following it all the way to the main ship's med bay. They followed until they were stopped, and then they sat, and waited.

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Countless hours later, the main doctor walked out to talk to the crew. The doctor was a female half twe-lik, she was orange with dark human skin, and was tall- taller than Kanan. She told them about his injuries, the fact that he stopped breathing on their table, and if he survived, the extremely lowered immune system. The doctor paused and the crew took that chance to all speak at once, "What do you mean IF?!" "He stopped breathing?!" "Can we see him?" "Lowered immune system?!" The doctor raised her hand, quieting the frantic crew. "His chances are not in his favor, 30% chance, your spleen, while you can live without it, is a crucial part of your immune system, he'll have to take medication to center his immune system again. Yes, he stopped breathing, but we got him going again. And yes, you can see him in 10 minutes." Those extra 10 minutes past agonizingly slow, and once they were over, the whole crew rushed to the room where Ezra was residing. A medical droid started to speak, "Only 2 at a time!" But the doctor shushed it, "Let them be."

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When the crew arrived at the bedside of Ezra, all of them stopped in shock. Ezra had a tube in his throat, with a machine breathing for him, his arms and legs were covered in bandages, and under the thin sheet they pulled up to his chest they could see thick bandaging around his torso. The doctor walked in and started to explain the situation. "He's in a coma, we're going to put him in bacta, he won't survive without it." The Ghost crew watched sadly as the youngest member of their family was lowered into the blue glob called bacta. "I'm sorry," the doctor said. "But now I'm going to have to enforce the 2 people rule. If you need anything, just ask for Juno." The crew gave her sad smiles and decided that Hera and Kanan would stay with Ezra for the time being.

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3 weeks pasted in this quiet manner, the 2 watching Ezra would switch out with the new pair and so on. Today, however, was the day to take Ezra out of the bacta. Ezra continued to slumber on, his chest barely rising and falling. He was laid on a med-bed, his oxygen mask replaced, and monitors placed on him again. "When is he supposed to wake up?" Sabine asked, as the crew gathered in the foyer to speak with Doctor Juno again. "We're not sure that he even will wake up. He's... recovering slower than we had hoped... right now we're just trying to prevent an infection or illness, I don't think he could survive that as well." "So, it's the waiting game again isn't it?" Kanan asked rhetorically. Juno nodded in agreement. "Indeed, but all of you can wait with h-." A young male nurse ran into the foyer in a panic, "Doctor! The boy... the boy is seizing!" Doctor Juno ran with the nurse back to the med-bay, while the crew followed behind them, worry etched on their faces. They ran in to the the med-bay to see Ezra jerking, twitching, and moaning. His heart monitor was going crazy, and the medical droid next to the seizing teen was struggling to still him. "What is causing this?!" Dr. Juno demanded, "I don't know! The brain scan hasn't come back yet!" Just then, the scanner beeped, revealing the scan of Ezra's brain. The male nurse ran to grab the scan and made a surprised noise. "What is it James?!" "He has advanced bacterial Meningitis!" "Oh kriff" "Give him 2 g's of benzodiazepine! We need to stop this now!" As the doctors worked to save the boy, the crew watched helplessly, they watched as the horrible convulsions continued to overtake the small teen, they watched as foam started to flow from his mouth. They watched as the convulsions eventually slowed, and the monitors quieted to the monotone beeping.

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Kanan and Hera sat next to the bed were Ezra was laying, still deep in his coma. "I'm glad the bacta healed his burns... it's just... meningitis?! Hasn't he been through enough already?!" Hera practically yelled at her husband, tears starting to flood her eyes. Kanan sighed, "He has, oh kriff, he has."

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The next 2 weeks past in a stressful manner. Although Ezra's burns and collapsed lung had been healed by the bacta, the meningitis was causing his breathing to become nearly nonexistent. He was still on a ventilator, the large tube strapped in his throat breathing for him. He had another seizure earlier in the week and the scar tissue from where his spleen was removed was finally finished healing. The meningitis was starting to reseed and with it, the crew's fears. Doctor Juno said that Ezra should be awaking up within the week and when that happened, the doctors would be checking his brain function and to see if there was any damage due to the meningitis. So due to that, the Ghost crew was on constant watch for any sign of wakefulness from Ezra. And one morning, they got it. Ezra made a small moaning noise while Hera and Sabine were watching him. Sabine ran to get the doctors while Hera tried to get Ezra to respond more. When Doctor Juno and Nurse James ran in, Ezra was making more moaning and whining noises. Hera though those were the sweetest noises she had ever heard. "Ezra, can you hear me?" Doctor Juno asked slowly, "if you can, squeeze my hand." Ezra weakly did. "Ok, good job, can you try to open your eyes?" Ezra's eye lids fluttered a few times but stayed shut. "It's ok Ezra, we'll try again later." Then she dragged James out of the room. Hera brushed Ezra's hair gently and kissed his forehead. "We love you so much Ezra... so so much"

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The next day, Ezra managed to slit open his eyes for a few moments, while the crew eagerly watched. There was much quiet celebration as they watched his slow and small steps toward recovery.

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The next few days were filled with Ezra opening his eyes for longer and longer periods of time. His current record was 2 minutes and 3 seconds. But today, Ezra seemed to be able to handle a conversation wake. Sabine was vividly telling him about her latest work, while Ezra was giving tiny nods to show that he was listening. Zeb looked from the doorway and smiled, for this, surely was a good sign.

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But alas, he was wrong. The next day Ezra had a minor seizure. It was a setback though. And with such, the crew waited.

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Ezra slowly opened his eyes, light flooded and nearly blinded him. "-ra? Ezra? Can you hear me Honey?" Ezra moaned and cracked open his eyes once more, to his surprise, the lights were dimmed and he could see. "Yup, I hear ya." He said and finally managed to focus his eyes on Hera, who was smiling widely. "How are you feeling sweetheart?" She asked, face wrinkling in concern. "Like a hovercraft ran me over. Repeatedly." Ezra deadpaned. Hera laughed at that, "Well, I'm glad your sense of humor is more or less intact." Ezra fidgeted, "Hera... can I use the 'fresher?" Hera pondered for a second, the teen had his catheter removed recently, and this would be the first time he had gotten up since the fire. She was interrupted when Ezra asked the question again. She nodded, and Ezra attempted to get out of bed, and failed miserably. To Hera's surprise, he began to cry. She thought quickly, "Here, Ezra let me get Kanan so he can help you." A few moments later she returned with Kanan. After explaining the situation to him, Kanan heavily braced Ezra and helped the boy to the 'fresher. Hera noticed that Ezra legs weren't responding the way they were supposed to, they would move a little bit, but not enough to constitute walking. When the boys came out and the 'fresher and Ezra was put back in his bed, Kanan stayed with him, while Hera went to talk to Doctor Juno.

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"Hmmm, it's probably because of his lack of movement in the past 2 months," Doctor Juno speculated. "He'll need forearm crutches for a while, due to the muscle deterioration." Hera nodded, and sighed. This was just another thing to worry about for her kid.

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Surprisingly, Ezra took the news pretty well, when asked why he simply said "At least I won't have to wear them forever!"

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Finally, after 2 months, the Ghost Crew returned to the Ghost indefinitely. Ezra, with his new crutches, walked as quickly as possible to keep up with Chopper, who he was racing. "I'm so happy to be home!" Ezra practically sang, as he hobbled to the common room in glee. The crew smiled at the rare giggles from the teen. And so they headed to Lothal.

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Finally, it was time to resume training, and Kanan worried for his padawan. The boy was still on crutches and was still slow and clumsy. But, Ezra insisted, so off they went. As Hera told them their traditional "Be careful!", they went. As they stopped in a field not too far from the Ghost, the pair began by lifting some larger rocks near them. At first, Ezra did really well, he was focused, and then, that ended. After awhile, Kanan noticed Ezra wasn't doing so hot, he was sweating profusely and was making almost whining noises. "Ezra... do you need a break?" Kanan asked, concerned. Ezra violently shook his head, still making the noises. A few more minutes of asking ended up going no where, Kanan finally stopped the teen, "Ezra we're done. No more." Ezra spared one glance at Kanan and then collapsed. "Ezra? Ezra!" "I'm... I'm okay." "No you're not, we're going home." With many protests from Ezra, Kanan picked up Ezra bridal style, and walked back to the Ghost. After much pampering from Hera and smart comments from the other 3, Kanan put Ezra in his bunk to rest. "We're going to talk later about this." He warned, and then he went to talk to Hera.

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"Hera... I'm worried about him, he hasn't pushed himself this far since the first time we've trained together." Hera looked at him sympathetically, "Maybe Love, he's just trying to prove that he still can train, even after everything that happened. But you need to talk to him." Kanan sighed. "Yeah, I know."

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"Ezra? Are you awake?" "Yeah..." "Can we talk?" "Yeah." Kanan sighed, this was the moment of truth. "Ezra, why did you push yourself self so hard earlier? There was no need to." Ezra seemed to sink into his bunk. "I dunno." Kanan sighed again, he seemed to do that a lot lately. "Come on buddy! I know there's a reason! You can tell me anything, you know that right?" To Kanan's surprise, Ezra began sobbing. "I-I'm sorry!" He wailed. "I-I just w-wanted to p-prove to y-you that I could s-still do training! T-That I wasn't u-useless!" So, Hera was right, that didn't make the truth hurt less. "Ezra, I don't know who or what told you that you were useless, but you are, and will never be useless. You are funny and smart, and you're the best padawan I could ever ask for!" "Really?" Ezra sniffed, hope starting to rise in his eyes. "Yes, without a doubt." The smile that graced Ezra's face after that was the most beautiful smile Kanan had ever seen.

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About a week later from the training incident, Kanan and Hera left their room only to hear the hearty laughter of the others. Curiosity flooding them, they went to go check on them. They found the kids crowding a data pad and laughing. "How about this one! 'The All Consuming Wave Of Hotness' or 'Sizzle Monster'!" Sabine nearly fell off the seat saying "Those sound like Ezra's flirting tactics!" The entire crew laughed at that. "What are you guys doing?" Zeb answered. "We're looking the best words for fire!" "Ooo! Guys! How about 'Burning Bacon'!" Chopper whirled in glee at that one. "Wait guys!" Ezra yelled, "I found the best one... 'AAAHH! IT BURNS!'" After that statement, the entire Ghost, was filled with laughter.

—

 **Disclaimer: Do I look like Disney?**

 **Oh my gosh, this took forever! It's not as long as I wanted but, LOOK AT ME KIDS! LOOK HOW LONG THIS IS! I'M SO PROUD OF MYSELF! I'M NOT DEAD!**

 **So, I guess I'm off hiatus now, yay? I'll try to get a normal update schedule for y'all at some point, but schools restarting soon *screams* so I'll have to see how we'll do that.**

 _Inner Fangirl:_ **Thanks to Katie for the beautiful words for fire!**

 **May the LORD be with you, always! ~** _Midnight Luna_


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